Multiple account advanced payment card and method of routing card transactions

ABSTRACT

A system of accessing through a financial processing network multiple accounts associated with a single financial card. Data is input to the financial network in addition to the transaction data and the account identification data that is read from the card. This additional data permits the proper account to be accessed. The data may be input at the point of sale as an account selection. In this instance, the selection may be used to route the transaction data through the financial processing network or may be used to read data regarding one of multiple accounts encoded on the card. The data may also be stored as conditional routing rules at transfer points in the financial processing network. In this instance, the transaction is routed to the proper account based on the stored rules.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/846,842, filed on Aug. 29, 2007, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/201,589, filed Jul. 24, 2002, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/307,179, filedJul. 24, 2001, each of which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to financial account cards suchas credit cards, debit cards and stored value cards. More specifically,the invention includes a multipurpose card having the attributes of acredit card, a debit card and a stored value card. The invention relatesto financial account cards that access multiple accounts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many point-of-sale and other financial transactions take place usingcard transactions. In these transactions, to provide payment, a carduser presents a credit card, a bank, debit or automated teller machine(ATM) card, or possibly a stored value card. The cards presented areconventionally of one and only one of these types. The cards presentedtypically access only a single account.

For example, a user may present a credit card to pay from a creditaccount maintained by the issuer of the card. The credit card istypically embossed with a unique account number, the cardholder's name,and the expiration date of the card. Data is also encoded on a magneticstripe on the card. The data identifies the cardholder's account and maybe accessed by magnetic card readers connected to a credit cardprocessing system.

An ATM card is used in similar manner. The ATM card is a plastic cardthat is typically embossed with an account number and the holder's name.The ATM card also includes data encoded on a magnetic stripe of thecard. The data identifies the cardholder's account and may be accessedby a magnetic card reader to use the card.

A stored value card is typically used to pay for a specific product orservice. The stored value card includes data regarding a limited useaccount that is limited to providing payment for a specific product orservice or for products and services at a specific merchant. The datapermits processing equipment at the point of sale to determine the valueof funds in the account.

In a typical card payment transaction, for example a credit cardtransaction, a buyer presents a credit card to a merchant at the pointof sale. The apparatus at the point of sale reads account informationfrom the card and passes this information along with the transactiondata to the merchant's card processing system for approval from the cardprocessor or qualifier that maintains the buyer's account. This approvaltransmission typically passes through a chain of processors. Themerchant's card processing system typically interacts with a merchantacquirer's system. The merchant may also use a third party pre-router toprocess card transactions. The merchant acquirer is a middleman thatprovides card services to businesses that accept card transactions. Themerchant acquirer typically sends the data to a card association ornetwork such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and others. The cardassociation then obtains approval from the processing or qualifyinginstitution for the individual card. The approval (or denial) istransmitted back down through this chain of processors. This chain ofprocessing systems is also used during settlement of the transaction toprovide transfer of the funds from the issuing institution to themerchant's account.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a single card having the benefit ofaccessing multiple accounts and if desirable multiple types of accounts.This is accomplished through the routing of card transactions based onadditional information beyond the single account number read at the timeof sale. The financial card of the present invention may have thebenefits of a credit card, a bank card, and a stored value card. Thismultiple account advanced payment card may be encoded with credit cardaccount, bank account, and stored value account information. Theinformation is encoded on the card in manner that is machine readable insystems that read credit cards, in a systems that reads bank cards, andin at least one system that reads stored value cards. The multipleaccount payment card may also be processed through a system that permitsthe card to access different accounts. The multiple account advancedpayment card enables the issuer of the card to maintain multiple typesof accounts for access by the cardholder. The card enables thecardholder to employ a single card to conduct transactions by accessingdifferent accounts.

The use of the multiple account advanced payment card permits thecardholder to enjoy the benefits of multiple types of accounts whilecarrying a single card. This card beneficially further allows a cardissuer to route transactions to a particular type of account based onthe particular transaction and other factors. This enables the multipleaccounts accessed by the multiple purpose card to complement one anotherand to provide flexibility to the cardholder to complete a wide varietyof transactions.

Advantages of this invention in addition to those described above areapparent from the following detailed description of the preferredembodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a basic flowchart of a method of accessing multiple accountsfrom a single card according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a basic flowchart of a method of accessing multiple accountsfrom a single card according to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a basic flowchart of a method of accessing multiple accountsfrom a single card according to a third embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a processing chain infrastructure that may beused in conjunction with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A financial card of the present invention appears similar to aconventional credit card or debit card. For example, the multipleaccount advanced payment card may have the form, fit and function of aconventional credit, bank or stored value card. In a first embodiment,the multiple purpose card is an embossed plastic card including machinereadable data. The card is styled to identify to the cardholder the bankor other financial institution that issued the card. The card isembossed with identification information that renders the card unique tothe cardholder. Typically, the identification information includes thecardholder's name and an account number of an account held by the user.The account number typically identifies a credit account to permit thecard to be used as credit card in all transactions in which a creditcard account number is required to be read or recorded from the embossedaccount number on the card.

The machine readable data included on the card includes data pertains todifferent accounts. An advantage to encoding information of differentaccounts is that a card reader capable of selectively reading multipleaccounts may access the existing card processing system to access anyaccount encoded on the card. A method according to this embodiment isshown in FIG. 1, which refers to processing a transaction for a cardwherein data of multiple accounts is stored on a magnetic stripe on thecard. Data input is acquired at the point of sale as shown at 102. Themagnetic stripe is read by card readers based on the data input as shownat 104. For example, a card reading system would query the user whichaccount (or what type of account) should be accessed at 102. Based ondata input in response to the query, the card reader will read theselected account data at 104. In this embodiment, additional data isinput at the point of sale to select from the multiple account numbersstored on the card. The transaction is processed normally based on theselected account number as shown at 106.

Preferably, the magnetic stripe on which the account numbers are storedconforms to industry standards. These standards provide the location ofmagnetic data on the card so that standard readers may access the storeddata. The standards provide for the data to be located on multipletracks on the magnetic stripe. On a typical credit or bank card, thestorage capacity of the magnetic stripe is significantly greater thanthe account data stored on the card. Typically data is only stored intracks 1 and 2 of a magnetic stripe that includes 3 or 4 tracks.Therefore in the card according to this embodiment of the invention, theexcess capacity of the magnetic stripe is employed to store account datafor multiple accounts. The different accounts may be accessed by thesingle card. Thus, the cardholder is able to use a single card in widevariety of financial transactions. For example, a card may have accountdata pertaining to a credit card account stored on a first track on thecard, account data pertaining to debit account stored on a second track,data pertaining to a first stored value account in a third track, anddata pertaining to second stored value account in a fourth track.

The different types of accounts that may be linked to the multiplefunction card of the present invention include credit card accounts;bank, debit or automated teller machine (ATM) accounts; and stored valueaccounts. The financial institution issuing the card maintains accountsfor the cardholder that are each accessed by the card so that the cardmay have all the functions of a credit card, all the functions of abank, debit, or ATM card, and all the function of a stored value card.The machine-readable data on the card includes account identificationdata in a format that is readable by credit card readers. Accordingly,the card of this embodiment may function as a credit card intransactions in which the card reader is configured to search for creditcard account data without the query and responding data input. The cardincludes machine-readable data in a format that is readable by ATMs.Therefore, the card may function as a debit or ATM card in transactionsin which the card reader is configured to search for bank or debitaccount information also without the query and responding data input.

In situations where a transaction may be accomplished through the use ofeither a credit card account or a debit to an account linked to a bankor ATM card, either account linked to the card of the present inventionmay be accessed. In a typical point-of-sale transaction, the cardholdermust identify the card as a credit card or as a debit or ATM card beforethe card reader reads the card. According to the novel approach takenfor the present invention, the user may select whether the card willfunction as a credit card or whether it will function as a debit or ATMcard. Based on the selection of the cardholder, the account data will beread in either the form of a credit card account or in the form of abank or other account to be debited. The transaction is processed by themerchant, and subsequently by the card issuer, based on the selection ofthe cardholder.

As discussed above, the card of this embodiment is useable in afinancial card processing system in which the user chooses the account(or account type) to be accessed during a particular transaction. Theselection is made at the point of sale at the time of the transaction.The selection is input to the card reader. Based on the selection, thecard reader reads the appropriate account information. The transactionis processed based on the account information read. For example, a cardof this embodiment may have credit information account encoded in afirst location on the magnetic stripe of the card and debit accountinformation encoded in a second location on the magnetic stripe. At thetime of use, the card reader is programmed to request input regardingwhether the first account or the second account is to be accessed. Ifthe user selects the first account and then swipes the card, the creditaccount information is read from the first location. The card reader andpoint of sale processing terminal sends the transaction information withthe credit account information to the processor. The processor routesthe transaction to the card issuing institution and the selected accountis debited. If the user selects the second account, the debit accountinformation is read from the second location and ultimately passed tothe issuing institution, which debits the selected account.

The choice of which type of account to be accessed may also be madeautomatically in certain situations. The card issuer is able to routetransactions through a chain of processors based on an appropriate typeof account based on transaction data. In the scenario in which the cardis used to conduct a transaction where only credit cards are accepted,the card issuer will receive a query to authorize a credit cardtransaction through a credit card processing system. When the merchantsettles this transaction, the card issuer will automatically process thetransaction as a credit card transaction. Similarly, if the card is usedin an ATM transaction, the card issuer will receive a query through anATM network to debit the cardholder's account. In this scenario, thecard issuer will automatically process the transaction as a bank or ATMtransaction.

In a second embodiment, the card functions to access multiple accountsby routing the transaction based on additional data. The selection of anaccount (or type of account) is transmitted with the transaction datafrom the point-of-sale terminal. An advantage of this embodiment is thatthe card may be encoded with information in the form of a singleaccount. The card itself may have many forms. The card need only tostore the account number in a form that is readable during atransaction. Acceptable forms include the standard financial carddescribed above, but may also include other electronically readableaccount number storage devices. The method of accessing multipleaccounts according to this embodiment is shown in FIG. 2. The accountinformation is read from the card by the point-of-sale terminal as shownat 202. The point-of-sale terminal is programmed to request input thatindicates the account (or type of account) to be accessed as shown at204. The point of sale terminal then transmits the transaction data,including data indicating the selected account. The transaction may thenbe routed by the merchant, the third party pre-router, the merchantacquirer, the card association or network, or the processor or qualifierbased on the data input at the point of sale as shown at 206. Theauthorization decisions and subsequent settlement are based on theselection data transmitted.

According to one aspect of the second embodiment, a customer holdsmultiple accounts accessed through a card issuing institution. The cardissuing institution issues to the customer a card encoded with aliasmaster account information. The alias account information indicates thatthe account is with the card issuing institution and that a personalidentification number (PIN) is required to access the account. The cardissuing institution assigns a PIN to each of the customer's multipleaccounts. When using the card, the card is swiped at the point-of-saleterminal to read the alias account information. The customer enters thePIN that corresponds to the account desired to be accessed. Thepoint-of-sale terminal then processes the transaction using the aliasaccount information and the PIN. This alias account information and thePIN are ultimately transmitted to the card issuing institution. Thealias account information is sufficient to identify the card issuinginstitution and within the institution the customer. The card issuinginstitution makes authorization decisions and debits the correct actualaccount based on receiving a PIN that corresponds to one of thecustomer's multiple accounts. Thus, a specific account of the customeris accessed when the card issuing institution receives transaction datafor the customer's alias account with the correct PIN designating aspecific actual account.

It should be understood that although requesting a PIN is familiar tothose presently engaging in card transactions, the data input at thepoint of sale may take other forms. For instance, the point-of-saleterminal may query the user to select an account or type of account. Theresponse to the query would be transmitted with the transaction data.For example, a cardholder may have a credit, debit, and multiple storedvalue accounts associated with a master account number. The cardholdermay select whether to conduct each card transaction by accessing thecredit, debit, or one of the stored value accounts. This selection wouldbe transmitted with the transaction data and be used to route thetransmission through the correct network to debit the selected account.The data may be input by either the buyer or seller at thepoint-of-sale. For example, a salesperson accepting an in-house creditcard for a transaction may respond to a query regarding the apparentrisk of the transaction. Based on the factors such as the transactionamount, the type of merchandise purchased, the time, the demeanor of thepurchaser, etc., the salesperson could designate the purchase as higheror lower risk. Based on this input, the transaction could be routed toeither an account that could be approved by the merchant system or to anaccount that requires real-time approval from the qualifier.

In a third embodiment, the card is linked to multiple accounts and theselection criteria are set in advance of using the card. Again, in thisembodiment the card may take any form to store the account information,so long as it may be read during the transaction. In this embodimentadditional data is stored at any point in the processing chain and usedto route the transaction. An advantage of this embodiment is that thecard is processed in the standard manner at the point-of-sale. A methodof accessing multiple accounts according this embodiment is shown inFIG. 3. The customer has multiple accounts accessed through a cardissuing institution. The card issuing institution issues to the customera card with account information that identifies the card issuinginstitution and also identifies the customer to the card issuinginstitution. It is then determined how transactions using the card willbe routed under certain conditions. For example, the customer and thecard issuing institution may determine under what conditions each of thecustomer's multiple accounts will be accessed when the card is used bythe customer.

The criteria used to conditionally route card transactions may includedata regarding the transaction and the status of the cardholder'saccounts at the time of the transaction. Data setting forth theconditions for each potential routing scenario are programmed into theprocessing system in the form of routing rules. These programmed rulesare stored in the processing system in which the routing decision ismade as shown at 302. The programmed rules may be stored at the merchantsystem, the third party pre-router, the merchant acquirer system, thecard association or network's system, or the card processor orqualifier's system. The account information is read as usual at thepoint-of-sale as shown at 304. The transaction data is transmitted asdiscussed above. Such data may include the type of merchant or the typeof goods or services involved in the transaction, the identity of themerchant, the location of the transaction, the amount of funds involvedin the transaction, whether the transaction is a payment or credit, etc.The programmed rules may cause the transaction to be routed based on anyof the data, or combinations of the data, received regarding thetransaction as shown at 306. For example, credits from a certain classof merchant could be applied to increase the value of a selected storedvalue account of the customer. The card issuer may also route thetransaction based on the status of an account. For example, transactionscould be debited from a bank account when the balance exceeds a setvalue, but debited from a linked brokerage account when the balance ofthe bank account falls below the set value.

The additional data used to route the card transactions in thisembodiment includes the conditional programmed rules that arepredetermined and stored. The data may also include data not derivedfrom the transaction itself that is stored and used in conditionalrouting decisions. For example, account status data, such as accountbalance ranges, may be provided from the account issuer to the cardassociation or networks or to merchant acquirers for making routingdecisions. Such data may be periodically updated throughout theprocessing system.

The embodiments of this invention permit a single card to function asdifferent types of cards. The machine-readable data on the card mayinclude data related to a prepaid stored value. The stored value caneither be on the network in which the card is used or the value may bestored on the card. If the stored value is on the card, the data encodedon the card includes the current value of the stored value function ofthe card. The stored value data is altered as the cardholder spends downthe value of the card. The data is stored on a portion of the cardaccessible to a card reader/writer for writing. Whether value is storedon the card or on the network, the transaction and account calculationsmay take place locally to the transaction. The stored value may bereduced without accessing data maintained by the card issuer. Thisenables the multiple purpose card to be used in transactions where dataexchange with the card issuing institution is impossible or undesirable.However as the stored value account is linked by the card to otheraccounts such as the cardholder's credit and bank or debit accounts, thestored value account may be replenished through appropriate transactionswhen data exchange occurs with the institution that issues the card. Thereplenishment may be directed per automatic instructions or may berequested by the cardholder.

The institution issuing the card of the present invention enables thecardholder to use the multiple function card in a flexible manner. Theinstitution has the flexibility to define the rules regarding howtransactions are processed. The accounts can be effectively managed bythe institution and the cardholder to ensure that the cardholderaccounts are put to the best use. The institution can route anyparticular transaction to the appropriate account and may adjust thevalue of the stored value portion of the card according to instructionsthat maximize the ability of the cardholder to satisfactorily completecard transactions as desired.

The card issuing institution and the customer may also permit certaintransactions to be ultimately routed to a final customer account basedon a later selection by the customer. In this scenario the transactionis held by the card issuing institution or is posted to a generalaccount of the customer. The customer, at some time after using thecard, selects which account will be accessed. The selected account isfinally debited or credited based on the transaction data and thesubsequent customer selection.

FIG. 4 illustrates the processing chain infrastructure which may be usedin conjunction with the present invention. The exemplary processingchain includes the following processors: merchant processor 400,merchant acquirer 415, association/network 420, and processor 425.Merchant processor 400 processes transactions requested at the merchantsite, and may include the subsidiary components of point-of-sale (POS)unit 405 and merchant system 410. POS unit 405 comprises one or morepoint-of-sale devices for allowing cardholders to transfer funds fromselected accounts to the merchant. Merchant system 410 coordinatestransaction requests from multiple POS units 405 and may submit them forprocessing. Merchant system 410 may be an on-site server (e.g., a serverfor an entire store) or may be an off-site server (e.g., a server formultiple stores).

Transaction requests may be transmitted from merchant processor 400 tomerchant acquirer 415 directly from POS device 405 (along route (2)) orfrom merchant system 410 (along route (1)). Generally, merchant acquirer415 receives transaction requests from merchant processor 400 and routesthem to the appropriate association/network 420. Examples ofassociation/network 420 include the VISA interchange, MasterCardinterchange, AMEX, STAR, PLUS, and similar organizations created forprocessing and settling certain types of transactions.Association/network 420 performs this function by routing transactionrequests to the appropriate member processor 425. Just by way ofexample, a transaction request for a VISA charge to an account issued byBank One will be routed by merchant acquirer 415 to the VISA networkassociation 420, which in turn will route the transaction to a Bank Oneprocessor 425 (or third party processor processing such transactions forBank One).

The multiple purpose card of the present invention may be processedbased on the infrastructure of FIG. 4 and certain decisioning logicimplemented thereon. At the outset, it is noted that the invention isamenable to processing along one of multiple routes on the processingchain of FIG. 4, including route (1) (conventional processing routethrough the processing chain), route (2) (conventional processing routebypassing merchant system 410); route (3) (non-conventional routebypassing merchant acquirer 415), route (4) (non-conventional routebypassing by merchant acquirer 415 and association/network 420, androute (5) (non-conventional route where the route runs from the merchantacquirer 414 to processor 425, skipping or bypassing association/network420).

It should be understood that the decisioning logic discussed below notonly performs the function of selecting an appropriate account, but thecorollary is that the selection also determines the route for thetransaction. For example, if the decisioning logic selects a creditaccount for a transaction request involving the multiple purpose card,then the routing typically is through one of the credit interchanges(e.g., VISA). On the other hand, if a debit account is selected, therouting is typically through a debit network. Therefore, in one sensethe invention is understood to be a technique for not only dynamicallyselecting accounts from a multiple purpose card on atransaction-by-transaction basis, but also dynamically selecting routingon such a basis.

The decisioning logic for processing transactions initiated via themultipurpose card of the present invention may be implemented accordingto several embodiments.

Operations at the POS

A first embodiment focuses on decisioning occurring at the POS devicebased on a multiple purpose card having information corresponding tomultiple accounts. For example, the multipurpose card may storeinformation for several different account types, such as a creditaccount, bank/debit/ATM account, and a stored value account. The accountdata may be stored on the several tracks of the magnetic stripe.

According to one aspect of the first embodiment, the cardholderinitiating a POS transaction selects which transaction type (account)prior to swiping the card. Accordingly, the POS device reads the accountinformation for the selected account based on the user's input.According to this approach, the cardholder's pre-swipe input effectivelytells the POS device which account data (e.g., which track) to read.

Because the correct account has been selected, the POS device can thenformulate the transaction request in the usual fashion. For example, thetransaction request may include account information a bank ID and anaccount number. The transaction request may also include transactioninformation such as one or more of a merchant ID, an amount, and atransaction type identifier. This transaction request can then beforwarded from the POS device (i.e., from merchant processor 400 (orfrom either of its components, POS device 405 or merchant system 410))down the processing chain for approval processing and ultimately,settlement. For example, the formulated transaction request can betransmitted via route (1), route (2), route (1)/(2) combined with route(5), route (3), or route (4). Some of the aforementioned routesbypassing certain elements (e.g., bypassing association 420) may improvespeed, efficiency, and avoid certain interchange processing fees.

According to another aspect of the first embodiment, the cardholderswipes the multipurpose card without first selecting a transaction type.According to this aspect, the POS device reads all of the accountinformation from the multiple purpose card (e.g., the accountinformation for the credit account, bank/debit/ATM account, and a storedvalue account). The cardholder then, after swiping the card, provides aninput selecting the preferred type of account for the transaction. Inthis approach, the POS device may provide a query to the cardholderafter recognizing that the card is a multiple purpose card. According tothis aspect of the first embodiment, the POS device preferably reads alltracks from the magnetic stripe. Because the correct account has beenselected, the POS device can then formulate the transaction request inthe usual fashion.

As with the previous aspect of the first embodiment, because the correctaccount has been selected the POS device can then formulate thetransaction request in the usual fashion. This transaction request canthen be forwarded from the POS device down the processing chain forapproval processing and ultimately, settlement, such as by using route(1), route (2), route (1)/(2) combined with route (5), route (3), orroute (4).

According to a first aspect of a second embodiment focusing onoperations as the POS, the multiple purpose card is a card having asingle master account (e.g., an alias account) corresponding to themultiple accounts associated therewith. According to this aspect, thecardholder will select an account associated with the card after swipingthe card. Alternatively, the cardholder may select an type of account.The cardholder selection comprises additional information that willultimately be used to retrieve (and perhaps validate) the proper account(e.g., the account corresponding to the user's selection and/or theaccount that is selected based on certain rules applied by the processorchain to select one of the accounts associated with the master account).

This aspect of the second embodiment entails decisionmaking logicelsewhere in the processing chain so that the proper account (asdescribed in the previous paragraph) is selected and used to formulatethe transaction request that is processed to approval and settlement.

Therefore, in this embodiment the POS device/merchant processor willforward a preliminary transaction request comprising the master accountinformation (alias) and additional information comprising the userselection. The user selection expressing an account preference orrequirement (or account type) may take various forms, includingcustomer-specific information that selects and validates an account(e.g., a PIN number or similar code associated with the specificaccount) or other information such as simply selecting the transactiontype (e.g., C for credit; D for debit; A for ATM; and S for storedvalue). In either case, the additional information will be appended withthe master account information (or alias) in the preliminary transactionrequest. The decisioning for the formulation of the actual transactionrequest (e.g., a request including the selected account) may then takeplace at one of the “downstream” elements in the processing chain (e.g.,at the merchant acquirer, at the association, at the issuer, or at aprocessor), to be discussed below.

Finally, according to a first aspect of a third embodiment, the multiplepurpose card includes the master account and is swiped as previouslydescribed, but the cardholder is not required to make a selection.Rather, in this approach, the master account (alias) information will betransmitted in the preliminary transaction request without the so-calledadditional information. Therefore, the decisioning logic for selectingthe appropriate account from the multiple accounts associated with themaster account will be based on predefined rules that may be set byvarious parties to the transaction, including the cardholder, themerchant, the merchant acquirer, the association, and the issuer.

As reflected by the descriptions above, the first embodiment (whereinthe card includes the multiple account data and the user makes aselection at the POS to ensure the correct account is used to formulatethe transaction request) does not necessarily require decisioning afterthe POS.

On the other hand, the second and third embodiments (wherein the cardincludes the master account which will be subsequently used to accessone of its associated accounts) entail decisioning after the POS becausethe “proper” account must be selected/retrieved to formulate thetransaction request.

Operations at the Merchant System

In the invention according to the second and third embodiments (wherethe card includes a master account/alias) discussed above, thedecisioning can occur at the merchant system. Thus, the merchant systemcan receive the preliminary transaction request (PTR) provided by thePOS device. This PTR data may include (a) the master account and someadditional data reflecting a user selection (second embodiment above),or (b) the master account without user selection data (third embodimentabove).

In the first scenario, (a), therefore, the merchant system may use themaster account and the additional information to retrieve thecorresponding account. For example, if the additional informationcomprises a user PIN designating one of the user's credit accounts or a“C” for credit (or similar information designating a transaction typewhere only one account of the type is associated with the card), themerchant system may access a database (local or remote) to retrieve thedesignated credit account corresponding to the master account. Themerchant system can then use that information to formulate thetransaction request in the usual way. The merchant system can thenforward the transaction request for further processing along one of thevarious routes from FIG. 4, such as route (1) (continuing all the waythrough the processing chain) or one of routes (3) or (4) that bypasscertain elements. The routing, of course, will be based on the type oftransaction (e.g., a credit transaction will be routed appropriate forcredit transactions).

In the second scenario, (b), the merchant system accesses rules todecide where to route the PTR request. These rules may be rules set bythe cardholder or merchant, for example. These rules may be “hard” rulesinsofar they must be complied with, or they may be preferences insofarthey must be complied with if possible (e.g., they are complied with aslong as they do not conflict with others' rules). Exemplary cardholderrules used in the decisioning to access the proper account would be thefollowing: Cardholder A for Master Account X wants his credit account tobe used for transactions at WaWa; his stored value account to be usedfor transactions at Starbucks; otherwise, all transactions less than $5levied against the stored value account; otherwise, all transitionsbetween $5 and $50 to be levied against his debit account; otherwise,all transactions more than $50 to be levied against his credit account).In another example, the cardholder may designate a personal creditaccount as a default account, but designate that all airline and hoteltransaction be levied against a company credit card account. Exemplarymerchant rules used for the decisioning might be such things as: alltransactions less than $10 must be either stored value or debittransactions (no credit transactions).

Because the rules considered by the merchant system may conflict, thedecisioning logic may include arbitration. This arbitration could seek asolution acceptable to all parties without consulting any party. Forexample, if the cardholder's rules are identified as preferences, thenthe outcome (selected account for the transaction) that best satisfiesthe cardholder's preferences without violating a merchant “rule” (i.e.,not a mere preference) may be selected. On the other hand, thearbitration could operate to give either the cardholder or the merchantthe option to override a rule if the transaction requires it. Forexample, take the scenario where the transaction is for $9, thecardholder's rule is all transactions greater than $5 are executed to aparticular credit account, and the merchant's rule is that alltransactions less than $10 must be non-credit transactions. Thedecisioning logic may issue a query to allow either the cardholderand/or the merchant to override the party's respective rule for thattransaction.

Continuing with the processing flow, after the decisioning logic makes adetermination as to the proper nature of the transaction, the properaccount corresponding to the master account is accessed, a completetransaction request is formulated, and the request is forwarded asdescribed above for the first scenario.

It should be noted that it is possible that the second and thirdembodiments could be combined. For example, the PTR received mightinclude the master account and user selection information. That userselection information might be assessed in conjunction with the rules(i.e, both the cardholder rules and the merchant rules or just themerchant rules) to select an account. On the other hand, the decisioninglogic could be configured to always make a decision based on userselection information if it is present, and if it is not present thedecisioning logic defaults to the rules (i.e., the cardholder rules).

It should also be noted that a further variation exists where theaccount lookup occurs further down in the chain. In other words, thedecisioning regarding which account to access (or which type oftransaction is to occur, e.g. stored value or ATM/debit/bank or credit)occurs at the merchant system. Information regarding this decision isappended to the master account, and this amended PTR is forwarded downthe chain. The amended PTR (e.g., the master account appended withadditional information comprising a designation of the nature of theselected transaction) can then be processed by, for example, thedownstream merchant acquirer to look up the proper account. The point isthat the decisioning and the account lookup may or may not be carriedout at the same points in the processing chain.

Operations at the Merchant Acquirer

The decisioning can be performed at the merchant acquirer, rather thanat the merchant system. Therefore, for the first scenario, (a),discussed in the previous section, the merchant acquirer may use themaster account and the additional information to retrieve thecorresponding account. The transaction request is formulated andtransmitted further for approval and settlement in the usual way.

For the second scenario, (b), discussed above, the merchant acquirer mayrefer to rules or preferences (e.g., cardholder rules, merchant acquirerrules, association rules, processor rules, and/or issuer rules) usingdecisioning logic that selects the proper type of transaction. Then themerchant acquirer can look up the account for that transaction typebased on the master account and formulate the complete transactionrequest. Or alternatively, the merchant acquirer can simply append thedecisioning result (e.g. account selection or transaction type) asadditional information that will be used by a downstream element to lookup the account.

Operations at the Associations/Networks

Decisioning can be performed at the association level, rather than themerchant system or merchant acquirer. Therefore, for the first scenario(a) discussed in the previous section, the association system may usethe master account and the additional information to retrieve thecorresponding account. The transaction request is completed andtransmitted further for approval and settlement in the usual way.

For the second scenario (b) discussed above, the association system mayrefer to rules or preferences (e.g., cardholder rules, associationrules, processor rules, and/or issuer rules) using decisioning logicthat selects the proper type of transaction. Then the association systemcan look up the account for that transaction type based on the masteraccount and complete the complete transaction request. Or alternatively,the association system can simply append the decisioning result (e.g.account selection or transaction type) as additional information thatwill be used by a downstream element (e.g., a processor for thattransaction type for that issuer) to look up the account.

Examples of rules that might be imposed by associations would be a rulethat forces credit transactions or a rule for/against online (need aPIN) debit transactions or offline (do not need a PIN) debittransactions.

At this juncture, it should also be noted that any arbitration logic forthe sets of rules may operate according to a hierarchy, such as thefollowing in order of dominant to least dominant rules: cardholder,merchant, merchant acquirer, and association. The priority of the rulesets can be varied from this example without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

Operations at the Processor

As discussed above for FIG. 4, the processor is the system element thatactually processes transactions to approval for the selected transactiontype for a given issuer.

According to the invention, the decisioning can be performed at theprocessor level. Therefore, for the first scenario, (a), discussed inthe previous section, the processor may use the master account and theadditional information to retrieve the corresponding account. Thecomplete transaction is then processed for approval and settlement inthe usual way.

For the second scenario, (b), discussed above, the processor may referto rules or preferences (e.g., cardholder rules, processor rules, and/orissuer rules) using decisioning logic that selects the proper type oftransaction. Then the processor can look up the account for thattransaction type based on the master account and complete the completetransaction processing.

Post-Transaction Decisioning

A further variation to the invention provides for post-transactiondecisioning. In this approach, a transaction is processed to approvaland actually settled vis-à-vis the merchant through a generic poolaccount for the cardholder. However, the settlement vis-à-vis thecardholder can be deferred pending a selection by the cardholder (orother entity) based on a set of rules or based on a cardholderselection.

This variation would permit, for example, a cardholder to use themultiple purpose card with a master account to fully process thetransaction with respect to the merchant. However, the cardholder coulddecide in time-late fashion which specific account the transaction wouldbe applied to. Thus at a time convenient to the cardholder, thecardholder is able to review the transactions settled in the genericpool. During this review the cardholder associates each transaction withan account for final posting. For example, the cardholder may designatea specific account (e.g. a credit card account, debit/bank/ATM account,or stored value account) for each individual transaction in the genericpool. Alternatively, the cardholder may provide rules to addressmultiple transactions (e.g. designating a business credit card for alltravel charges for a certain time period, or a designating an accountlinked to a brokerage account for all transactions exceeding a givenamount). The cardholder may use various interfaces to the issuer toselect an account, such as an interactive voice response unit (dial-upand touchtone selection), a phone call (interface with a human being),Internet access, and the like.

Other embodiments, uses and advantages of the present invention will beapparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of thespecification and practice of the disclosed invention. The specificationand disclosed embodiments are exemplary.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for using afinancial transaction device associated with multiple accounts,comprising: linking, by a computer processor, multiple accounts to amaster account associated with a financial transaction device whereinthe multiple accounts are held by a cardholder and the linking isperformed prior to issuing the financial transaction device to thecardholder and wherein further the multiple accounts are maintained by asingle financial institution that issues the financial transactiondevice and each of the multiple accounts is in existence prior toissuing the financial transaction device, wherein the multiple accountscomprise two or more of: a credit account; a debit account; an ATMaccount; and a stored value account; issuing the financial transactiondevice to the cardholder wherein the financial transaction devicecomprises machine readable data pertaining to the master account;determining pre-defined rules comprising a set of criteria which setconditions for a transaction account to be accessed following atransaction with the master account, wherein the transaction account isselected from among the multiple accounts, wherein the set of criteriacomprises one or more of the following: type of merchant involved in thetransaction; type of goods involved in the transaction; type of servicesinvolved in the transaction; a location of the transaction; and anamount of funds involved in the transaction; receiving a preliminarytransaction request, based upon the transaction with the master account,from a point of sale or merchant processor, wherein the preliminarytransaction request comprises data containing master account informationappended with selection information indicating the transaction accountto process the transaction against; determining, by the computerprocessor, that the transaction meets the predefined rules for thetransaction account indicated in the preliminary transaction request;and processing the transaction against the transaction account basedupon the preliminary transaction request.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining, by the computer processor, that atleast one arbitration rule exists comprising logic to resolve conflictsin the set of criteria for accessing the transaction account based uponthe transaction, wherein the at least one arbitration rule presents anoption for override.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the option foroverride of the at least one arbitration rule is an option for thecardholder to override the at least one arbitration rule.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein a personal identification number is required tocomplete the transaction.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the machinereadable data is stored on a magnetic stripe.
 6. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the processing includes multiple processors includingmerchant processors, merchant acquires, card associations and memberprocessors.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined rules areestablished by the cardholder.